I'd rather be having a quiet drink... and can be followed on Twitter @alcothusiast; and friended on Untappd (handle: "neilcake" - all welcome).

Thursday, 25 February 2016

Booze Tourism: More from Lake Garda

Wine in the process of ageing at Tenuta San Leonardo

A bit later than intended, let’s return now to my tale of booze-related
adventures around Lake Garda. We begin where we left off last time, on our way
from the grappa village of Santa Massenza, up to Trento, for a winery tour.

Mezzacorona tour

We continued our drive north from Santa Massenza, and before long came
to the town of Trento – just north of which lies the sprawling and modern
Mezzacorona plant. After our satnav had sent us to the tradesman’s entrance and
we were redirected round to the front, we were able to find the shop where you can
buy multiple cases of wine, and the reception, where they were expecting me.

We were greeted by Veronica (not our friend of the same [pseudo] name),
with whom I had arranged the visit in advance. It was nice to be expected after
the day’s earlier activities – it meant I could relax while Veronica escorted
us and an Italian couple around in two languages.

This tour was 5 euros each, and was focused specifically on the
sparkling wine that Mezzacorona produces. I hadn’t planned for it to be that
way, but it turns out we really didn’t know anything about how sparkling wine
is made, so it was very informative in that sense.

Mezzacorona is a collective organisation, utilising the produce of 1500
growers to make [something like] 40 million bottles of still wine per year, and
[something else like] 3 million bottles of sparkling wine. You’ll have to
forgive my innacurracy around the numbers there; it was something like that,
but I don’t recall exactly what we were told. It was a lot.

The modern technology employed allows the winery to control the
temperature at every stage, and has even enabled them to automate the rotation
process necessary in the production of sparkling wine, using a number of
mechanised crates to each rotate 504 bottles at a time for a period of 12 days,
where by hand it would take 40*.

It was a decent tour and we learned a lot. I don’t want to tell you any
more as it might ruin it for a trip of your own. That, and my memory doesn’t
permit me to write about it with too much clarity. I’ll just say, it’s worth a
trip if you’re in the area. The scale of production here is staggering and, of
course, you’ll get to try some wine at the end.

And that concluded our Tuesday grappa and wine excursion. A great time
was had by all, I reckon. The drive back wasn’t as relaxing or pleasant as the
drive up, as the satnav chose to take us on the motorway, so there was no
scenery and it cost us around 10 euros in tolls, but presumably it saved us a
lot of time and we were getting hungry.

The same source that led us to visiting Mezzacorona was also the
one responsible for sending us over the mountains on Garda’s eastern side on
the Friday for a visit to Tenuta San Leonardo. I remembered the source
as saying that if you get a chance to visit, then you should. Though it
doesn’t actually say that. I am saying it to you now though.

I think by the Friday morning, Mrs Cake and I were feeling a bit worn
out after a stretch of protracted stressing over whether we’d be able to print
out our return flight boarding passes, so I have to admit that when we awoke
that morning, we weren’t even sure as to whether we would bother making the
journey to Borghetto. I had made the necessary arrangements for a tour and
packaged some literature up as part of Mrs Cake’s birthday present, but I made
her aware that this one was optional. I hadn’t paid a deposit or anything, so
if she didn’t feel up to it, that was fine. I’d just buy her something else.

That would have been a bit lame, so I went to the car to have the
satnav tell me how long it would take that morning, and it was only going to be
an hour and a half. The weather wasn’t great, so we thought we’d go for it.

What I didn’t realise when booking our tour, was that when they refer
to San Leonardo as an estate, that’s exactly what they mean – in the
noble sense. I won’t go into all the history, as I simply wouldn’t be able to
do it justice, but believe me; there is a lot of it, and you can read a little
more on their website.

We arrived at the gates, not really certain we’d reached our
destination. The satnav said that’s where we should be, but there was no sign –
just a small wine bar and some closed gates. We pulled in and awkwardly
wondered what to do – eventually resulting in Mrs Cake heading into the wine
bar to make enquiries. When she emerged, she motioned for me to follow. And
that’s when we met the Marchese Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga. Yes, an actual
Marchese, and a very friendly and incredibly well-dressed gentleman he was too.
He offered us a coffee and, not realising who we were talking to, I assumed he
was visiting too and so, asked him where he’d come from. He said Rome, but I
thought he said Norway. At this point Mrs Cake looked over my shoulder to the
wall and saw it was covered with pictures and press clippings, in all of which
was the gentleman I was speaking to. What an idiot – me, not him. Anyway, it
was lovely, and at this point Joseph, with whom I had been corresponding with
regard to arranging this visit entered and removed any embarrassment by taking
us inside to begin the tour.

I have to admit to being something of a novice when it comes to wine. I
may even have been slightly disparaging about it in my youth – you know, way
back when the blog started – but by now I’ve built up a bit of curiousity and
have definitely been open to learning more. Nevertheless, I briefly felt I
might be a bit out of my depth when we met Joseph and he told us that, not only
was San Leonardo one of the foremost wine producers in Italy, but the gentleman
we had just met was one of the great pioneers in Italian winemaking. In simple
terms; this was kind of a big deal. And I had pretty much happened across it in
the frenzied internet research I’d tried to squeeze in in the weeks prior to
our holiday. Result.

So we went on a walk around the beautiful grounds of the estate, seeing
vineyards, getting the history and, since the tour was just for the three of
us, the chance to ask as many questions as we liked. Joseph must have clocked
that we didn’t know too much early on, but we were having a great time and
learning a lot – and not just about wine; also about Italy and the 2nd
World War, making for a very rounded experience.

I won’t give you all the details as I think it’s important to retain a
certain number of surprises should you choose to make the trip yourself. Among
the highlights though, were of course the wine cellars. First was a number of
concrete vats that were used during the fermentation phase, then the store of
bottles of vintage wines that was complete with a hidden switch granting access
to the barrels where the produce was undergoing the maturation process.

Unlike the modern Mezzacorona plant, San Leonardo don’t utilise any
modern climate control techniques beyond opening a window if it gets too hot,
or shutting the door if it gets too cold. It was truly fascinating to see how
scales and practices can vary so significantly, and how important each
variation is to the product.

Well, pretty soon it was time to head back to the small wine bar for
the tasting. We’d been having such a good time, we were almost sad to have
reached the end of the tour. It’s all about the wine though, isn’t it? More or
less. And even though I’m no wine connoisseur, I’ve still experienced quite a
bit of it, and this stuff was excellent – across the whole range from the entry
level white and red (Vette and Terre respectively) up to the
vintage bottlings, San Leonardo and Villa Gresti. It is worth noting that, on
their website they have a vintage guide letting you know when your bottle is
ready for drinking. Mrs Cake opted for a Villa Gresti, so it will be
worth keeping an eye on that guide (though I actually can’t find it now). If
you want my opinion, while the Gresti was excellent, I do think the San
Leonardo was even better, but at over 40 euros, and in spite of it being an
investment, the more affordable option was probably the better choice.

Of course, I was also pleased to find that, as seems to be the case with all Italian wineries,
they also make their own grappa – though not on the estate, as such. They
actually transport the marc fresh from fermentation to a small scale
local producer (Bruno Franceschini) who distils the two expressions Grappa
San Leonardo (white) and Grappa Stravecchia San Leonardo (aged 5
years in barrels that had previously aged the San Leonardo wine).

While Mezzacorona also produced a couple of grappas, there I resisted
temptation due to already having fulfilled my purchase quota. This time though,
Mrs Cake positively insisted I get another one and, after discussing whether we
would have room or even weight allowance in our luggage, I just decided to go
ahead.

Both varieties are presented in fancy crystal decanter type bottles
that, we were told, are based on a bottle the Marchese found in the attic of
the manor house. It would certainly look good centre stage on our new liquor
cabinet.

I had a couple of good tastes, but couldn’t decide which of the two to
buy. The Marchese said he preferred the white, as that is in the traditional
style but in the end I went for the Stravecchia because I thought its flavour
profile would help me to convert whisky loving friends to the grappa cause –
should any of them be lucky enough to be allowed to try it. To be honest, very
few are proving themselves worthy.

The white grappa was 24 euros and the Stravecchia 41 euros (for 50cl) –
so quite a bit more expensive than anything else I’d picked up, but at least
now I knew I’d gotten my “special” bottle.

I can’t really come close to doing justice to how special this place
was. You can use the word “estate” in any way you want, but this was a real
noble style estate with all the relics and exotic memorabilia you can’t even
imagine. It was just full of highlights, with surprises around every corner. A
real personal experience that you won’t get from any tour companies. 35 euros
per person might seem a little steep for a winery visit – especially compared
to the 5 euros at Mezzacorona, and I’m sure a number would show you around for
free – but this is remarkable value and an excellent opportunity to learn
something and try some excellent wine.

Last day

packing

Well those were the main booze-related experiences of our trip to the
area around Lake Garda. We did other things too, but there’s no room for them
here. What I will tell you, is that with all that booze to get home (four
bottles of grappa and five bottles of wine), we had to buy extra hold baggage
for the way back. Then there was a whole load of booze to finish off before we
went. The Grappa di Pinot Franciacorta went down very well, though somehow I
managed to spill two entire glasses along the way.

Also on one of the days we’d been able to call at the ManerbaMicrobrewery and pick up one bottle of each of the brews they made – 9 in
total, all big and all strong. I’d like to tell you a bit more about them, but
by the time we got there we were tired and I just wanted to get a carry out.
The beers were good though, and ideal for your own Distinct Beers Challenge.

the Manerba Microbrewery line-up

I hope all this has proved interesting an useful to you, should you
wish to plan your own booze tour of the region. There’s just time now to
mention a couple of things that we missed due to lack of time, though I’ll
certainly be pencilling these into my itinerary if we ever get the chance to go
back.

Things we missed

As I mentioned way back in the introduction to last week’s post,
there’s the Museo della Grappain Bassano del Grappa,
which is free to visit and contains five “suggestive” rooms as well as another
site in Schiavon which contains the largest known collection of grappa bottles
in Italy. No doubt there will also be a few distilleries in the area.

Finally, long after we actually returned from our excursion, I found
something else that looks like it would be well worth a visit, the ForumAquavitae, a centre for research on distillates where they do research on
spirits. That one is somewhere between Bergamo and Garda.

Next time I think we’ll
drive the whole way – it’s only just over 1000 miles, right? Should take about
17 hours, but we’ll be able to bring more home (as long as there’s room next to
all the baby stuff, and there hasn’t been a referendum on Europe that decides
we’re out and no longer eligible for beneficial alcohol privileges), and we
might be able to make some interesting stops along the way.

all present and correct and home at last

Well, it turns out that that bellend David
Cameron has decided to appease the eurosceptics within his party and the small
minded little Englanders with a euro referendum the day after we go back to the
area. I’ll definitely be using a postal vote to keep us in, but what does this
mean for next time you visit an interesting destination and want to bring back
some special grog? Well, it’ll probably mean you can only bring back a litre of
spirits. Luckily for me, I’ll be able to use Mrs Cakes allowance, and since
grappa is usually bottled at 50cl, that still means I could bring back four
bottles. There’ll be no more booze cruises over to France though. Do people
even do that, still?

Anyway, everyone’s entitled to their opinion,
and mine is that we’d be better off staying in Europe – it’s the only thing
protecting our workers’ rights, and keeping us from slavery to the political
elite and greedy corporations. You’re entitled to your opinion too of course,
but if you’re going to wade in in the comments, keep it civil, eh?

Definitions

What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint.

Alcothusiast:

Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze.

Anxiety, The:

The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover.

Booze Buffet Mentality:

The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar.

Booze Porn:Photos of alcohol.

Bread Chest:Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...

Crawler's Block:The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting in crawl stagnation and someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"

Crawl Stagnation:The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.

Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion:An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence.

The Family:My whisky collection.

MOMA:

Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most.

Old Man Pub:Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink.Psychological Drinks Cabinet:Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for.Road Beers:

Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way.

The 3 Types of Rum:White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail.

About Me

Neil Cake is interested in all types of booze, but is by no means an authority or expert. Most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but he is learning, and enjoys sharing his adventures and what he learns on the Drink it How You Like it blog.
Thengyuverrymuuuuuch.